JDA Software, Inc., and InContext Solutions, a global leader in mixed reality (virtual and augmented reality) solutions for retailers and manufacturers, today announce their partnership to bring together the technology platforms of both companies. The combination will offer virtual reality-based visualization and category management capabilities for retailers to virtually walk through the store, changing planograms and assortments on the fly.

“Brick-and-mortar is here to stay, but the role it will play in a shopper’s path-to-purchase will vary,” said Mark Hardy, CEO of InContext Solutions. “From showrooming, and entertainment, to discovery and convenience, retailers and products will have to continuously rethink how to keep shoppers engaged in a unified commerce world. To do this, technology and data that enables faster decisions will be needed to help evolve Category Management from an annual or semi-annual event, to a perpetual management process.”

Initially, the companies will link JDA Category Knowledge Base, from the JDA® Category Management portfolio, with InContext’s ShopperMX™ VR SaaS platform to allow immersive collaboration, visualization and testing of category strategies. Longer term, the partnership synergies will enable more agile design, analytics and deployment of total store shopper experiences for brick-and-mortar retailers, further optimizing the supply chain and store operations.

“The ability to not only test and explore new in-store retail concepts but also make planogram and assortment changes on the fly using virtual reality is a huge opportunity for retailers to take the customer experience to the next level,” said Jim Prewitt, group vice president, product management, JDA. “Partnering with InContext will enable us to embed their ShopperMX platform into our market-leading Category Management solutions to empower in-store retailers with delivering the best product mix for their shoppers in real-time.”

Attendees can experience an in-booth virtual reality pop-up store with new partner InContext Solutions showcasing how a store associate can virtually walk through the store, changing planograms and assortments on the fly. Check out the JDA and InContext Solutions theater presentation in the JDA Booth on Tuesday, at 10:30 a.m.

InContext Solutions is the leading provider of mixed reality solutions for retail, working with top blue-chip companies across CPG, hard goods, apparel, and QSR industries to rethink how they bring new retail concepts and products to market.InContext’s enterprise mixed reality and decision-support platform, ShopperMX™, is an integral part of digitizing the value chain, and provides faster, more cost-effective alternatives for retail innovation.

About JDA Software, Inc.

JDA Software is the proven leader in artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML)-driven supply chain and retail solutions for 4,000 of the world’s leading retail, manufacturing and logistics companies. JDA enables an Autonomous Supply ChainTM by connecting its cognitive SaaS solutions from end-to-end - across planning, execution and delivery - with a broad partner ecosystem, empowering customers to better predict and shape demand, transform their product delivery and deliver outstanding customer experiences. JDA’s world-class client brands include 75 of the top 100 retailers, 77 of the top 100 consumer goods companies, and 8 of the top 10 global 3PLs. Running JDA, you can plan to deliver. www.jda.com

“JDA” is a trademark or registered trademark of JDA Software Group, Inc. Any trade, product or service name referenced in this document using the name “JDA” is a trademark and/or property of JDA Software Group, Inc.